The government is facing cross-party calls from MPs, charities and thinktanks to start paying swathes of the population a basic income to cushion the economic shock of the coronavirus outbreak.

The former Conservative business secretary Greg Clark urged the government to act immediately to prevent mass job losses by allowing the taxpayer to subsidise companies’ wage bills. Forty-six opposition MPs and peers also wrote to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak demanding a basic income payment for all citizens to see them through this crisis.

Citizens Advice proposed a “crisis minimum income” of at least £180 a week so everyone has enough money “to protect their own health and the health of others”, and economists at the Resolution Foundation thinktank called for the government to pay two-thirds of wages if employees are left without work to do, at a cost of £8bn for a million workers over six months.

Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Germany are among the European countries which have already taken action to shore up workers’ incomes directly.

Clark, who resigned as business secretary rather than serve under Boris Johnson, raised an urgent question in the House of Commons. He said the £330bn loan scheme the chancellor announced on Tuesday would not prevent firms from sacking their staff.

“These businesses have no idea when they would be able to pay back the debt that they would incur. It provides no reason to keep staff employed. In fact the reverse, because the smaller the wage bill, the less would have to be borrowed,” he said.

He pointed out instead that HMRC already knew the wage bill of all companies that pay their workers through the PAYE system. “That flow should now be reversed, with the nation paying the wages of people for the next few weeks, if and only if they continue to employ their staff,” he said.

“If the government does not act immediately, large numbers of people will be unemployed. Registering them will put huge pressure on the welfare system. Vital skills will be lost, and good businesses will cease trading.”

The junior Treasury minister, John Glen, replied by repeated the mantra that the government was ready to do “whatever it takes” to deal with the crisis.

He said the chancellor was holding discussions with unions and business groups on Thursday and “this will be with a view to urgently developing new forms of employment support to help support peoples jobs and incomes.”

Sunak made clear on Tuesday that his preference was for such a scheme, which could operate through employers, rather than the creation of an entirely new system such as universal basic income, though the prime minister said on Wednesday that had not been ruled out.

Citizens Advice said single-person households needed £960 a month to avoid getting into difficulty, and a couple with children £1,700. Millions stand to lose earnings as a result of social distancing measures. The charity predicted people would typically be spending £27 less a week on transport and £19 less on leisure, but that food and energy bills would rise.

“The government must set a crisis minimum income of at least £180 a week so that people can afford the basics while they are unable to work,” said Dame Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice. “Increasing sick pay and support from the benefits system will mean people don’t have to face the impossible choice of working while unwell or ignoring guidance to self-isolate or socially distance.”

Opposition MPs and peers calling for the introduction of a minimum basic income included Jon Cruddas, Lord Dubs and Chris Bryant for Labour, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, the Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, 33 of the Scottish National Party’s Westminster parliamentarians and representatives of Plaid Cymru.

The Resolution Foundation said that with less than one-in-ten of those in the bottom half of earners saying they were able work from home, it would be harder for them to protect their incomes in the face of social distancing measures.

It also proposes that the 2 million lowest-earning employees currently ineligible for statutory sick pay are granted the benefit and that it be increased for everyone from £95.85 to £160 a week to ensure it covered half the earnings of employees that rely on it, up from the current third. The government should meet £800m cost of the increase over six months for small and medium-sized businesses, it said.

The foundation also said ministers should increase the basic out-of-work universal credit payment by a third to £100.

Other European countries affected by Covid-19 have taken steps to shore up household incomes. In Denmark, the government is paying 75% of the salary of workers who have been laid off temporarily up to the equivalent of around £2,800 a month. Germany has said that after being required to enter quarantine, employees must continue to be paid for six weeks and that the government would refund employers.

In Ireland, employers who have to temporarily shut businesses have been asked to continue paying staff €203 a week, again reimbursed by the government. Sick pay will also rise to €305 a week and will be available for those asked to self-isolate.

In Sweden, employers can halve their wage costs and temporarily stand down their employees, and still receive more than 90% of their wage from the government, which is also offering to cover the cost to firms of all sick pay at least until May.